The Perfect Digital Marketing Team Structure this 2023

If you’re pumped about putting together an elite digital marketing team structure, then this guide is for you. 

As the founder of your company, you’re in charge of planning your business model, creating service packages, and funding your operations. Of couse, you also need to find A+++ marketing talent to form your core digital marketing team.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a seasoned marketer or you’re just learning how to start a digital marketing agency with no experience. To piece together a world-class digital marketing team structure, you must first learn the inner workings of a marketing agency. 

How a digital marketing team structure works 

The founder is at the top of the totem pole—overseeing critical aspects like compliance, work culture, and overall team productivity. In a small agency, they also play an active role in managing the organization’s finances and fostering the team’s vision. 

Founders should also be constantly researching how to grow a digital marketing agency. That includes generating new clients and finding recruits for the growing digital marketing team. 

A high-budget agency can assign heads or directors for each digital marketing department. They also run an in-house team of digital marketers assigned to specific activities. 

Some of the digital marketing team structures big and mid-sized agencies use are: 

• Market-based
• Product-based
• Process-based
• Geographical 
• Functional
• Matrix

Since you’re reading this guide, chances are you don’t have the manpower—nor the resources—for these structures. 

Rather, you’re planning to construct a small marketing team of flexible strategists.

In a flexible digital marketing team structure, everyone in the organization reports directly to the founder. It’s the ideal setup for startups that run on a limited budget and, more often than not, operate remotely. 

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Digital marketing team structure: The essential roles

To build a great digital marketing team, here are the essential positions your agency should fill: 

1. Marketing strategist

The marketing strategist is the leader when it comes to managing your overall digital strategy. Their main responsibilities include creating marketing plans and planning the allocation of resources to marketing goals. 

Marketing strategists may not have the technical skills to execute the work, but they’re generalists who understand how it’s done. They also work with the founder for decision-making processes, like outsourcing digital marketing or purchasing digital marketing tools. 

As the business owner, you may also hire a digital marketing manager who supervises the day-to-day of other specialists. Of course, you can do it yourself and be more involved with the activities of your digital marketing team.

Marketing strategist roles and responsibilities: 

• Developing and communicating marketing plans 
• Give recommendations to the marketing team
• Managing resources for completing marketing goals
• Monitor performance of marketing campaigns
• Optimize marketing strategy for clients 

Marketing strategist base salary range (from PayScale.com): $42,000-$90,000

2. Data analyst 

In a digital marketing team structure, there should always be a go-to analyst who interprets marketing strategy KPIs. 

Remember, not everyone who has access to marketing metrics can refine them into actionable steps. 

The data analyst can read the numbers and transform them into readable reports. They are problem-solvers who can run tests and provide the rest of your digital marketing team with alternative strategies. 

Data analyst roles and responsibilities:

• Collect and analyze marketing data
• Use marketing data to generate reports
• Configuring and maintaining data management systems

Data analyst base salary range: $45,000-$87,000

3. SEO specialist

A competitive marketing strategy always takes search engine optimization or SEO into consideration.

An SEO specialist handles keyword research, link building, on-page optimization, and other areas of a comprehensive SEO strategy. 

Your agency can hire an in-house SEO team or have the SEO specialist hire freelancers for core tasks. A typical example would be to outsource a content creation team for guest posts, which will fuel your agency’s link-building campaigns.

Both the data analyst and SEO specialist must be able to work with platforms like Google Analytics, SEMrush, and Serpstat. 

SEO specialist roles and responsibilities:

• Monitor changes in search engine algorithms
• Conduct keyword research
• Integrate SEO strategies into content creation plan
• Identify and managing relationships with potential link sources
• Identify on-page SEO issues and provide remediation suggestions or services
• Manage outreach campaigns
• Monitor essential SEO metrics

SEO specialist base salary range: $37,000-$66,000

4. Content strategist 

For a content strategist, flexibility is the name of the game. 

Content strategists wear many hats depending on the requirements of a content marketing strategy. They can be copywriters, eBook writers, white paper creators, bloggers—you name it. 

Small digital marketing teams may have multiple content strategists to accommodate different clients. To ensure the timely delivery of content, hire a content manager to organize and monitor the workload of writers.

Lastly, content strategists know the best practices for publishing on different digital marketing channels. In addition to content formats, they should also understand the different user preferences in content marketing channels. 

Content strategist roles and responsibilities: 

• Research content topics and ideas
• Build content outlines and brand guidelines
• Write marketing content in different formats
• Address any revision requests from clients 

Content strategist base salary range: $44,000-$102,000

5. Graphic designer

Graphic designers elevate your agency’s content marketing by producing original visuals. They can help content strategists with featured images, infographics, and custom graphics for white papers or eBooks. 

A graphic designer may also play a part in composing your agency’s brand design language. Early on, they can help create your agency’s logo, social media banners, graphics for web development, and so on. 

To create eye-catching visuals, a graphic designer must be familiar with anything from IG tools to graphic design apps. Take note that, like content strategists, designers are expected to be flexible in content marketing campaigns. 

Graphic designer roles and responsibilities:

• Create visuals to complement text-based content 
• Develop design language components like logos, brand colors, and typography
• Create original graphics for social media posts
• Research information for creating infographics and data visualizations
• Work with content specialists for visual-heavy projects like eBooks and white papers

Graphic designer base salary range: $35,000-$66,000

6. Relationship builder

In a digital marketing team structure, the role of relationship builder can be filled by different individuals. Without a designated specialist, anyone between the marketing strategist, project manager, and founder can shoulder responsibilities related to relationship management.

Relationship builders excel at engaging prospective clients, onboarding new clients, and providing support. They should also be capable of utilizing feedback to fine-tune the agency’s overall marketing strategy.  

Relationship builder roles and responsibilities: 

• Create and maintain positive relationships with clients
• Communicate and foster prospective clients
• Address client complaints
• Build relationships with potential marketing partners like influencers and bloggers

Relationship builder base salary range: $45,000-$116,000

7. Email expert

The email expert in digital marketing teams may also be involved in reaching out to leads. However, they’re usually not responsible for cultivating relationships past the point of conversion. 

Email experts can lend their services to either clients or the digital marketing team. They should be knowledgeable about email marketing platforms, automation workflows, campaigns, and their best use cases. 

Email expert roles and responsibilities: 

• Creating and managing email marketing campaigns
• Build email automation workflows to maximize efficiency
• Produce email content and templates 
• Configure email marketing platform

Email expert base salary range: $52,000-$102,000

8. Social media manager

An ideal marketing team structure includes a talented social media manager who is well-versed in all things social. 

These professionals should know a bunch of things—from social media engagement strategies to funny things to comment on Instagram. They should also be able to manage the agency’s social media marketing channels and that of clients. 

In small agencies, the social media manager can be a single person and not an entire team. They do, however, have the authority of outsourcing social media marketing services for various tasks.  

Social media manager roles and responsibilities:

• Configure social media marketing tools
• Build and optimizing social media profiles
• Develop and managing social media marketing campaigns
• Communicate and manage relationships with social media users
• Build relationships with social media influencers

Social media manager base salary range: $36,000-$81,000

9. Paid media specialist

A well-rounded digital marketing team always comes with a paid media specialist or PPC manager who grapples with the advertising side of online marketing. They are at the helm of your agency’s paid media campaigns. 

Paid media specialists should be familiar with digital advertising platforms, from Google AdSense to Facebook Ads. 

Paid media specialist roles and responsibilities: 

• Work with social media team to develop social media ad strategy
• Manage paid ad campaigns
• Create display and search ad campaigns 
• Optimize paid media channels
• Manage creation of ad copies

Paid media specialist base salary range (from Salary.com): $58,000-$87,000

11. Project manager

Project management is a task that often falls on the content strategist, marketing strategist, or founder’s shoulders. 

In a digital marketing strategy, a designated project manager incorporates cohesiveness and efficiency. They make sure deadlines are met, quality guidelines are upheld, and resources are spent effectively. 

Assigning a dedicated project manager for each client will make your agency stand out from other digital marketing team structures. 

Project manager roles and responsibilities:

• Understand the client’s specific needs and marketing objectives
• Work with marketing strategist to develop marketing plans tailored to clients
• Identify key skills and tools needed for client goals
• Track and manage individual marketing tasks
• Identify and address issues with team productivity and success

Project manager base salary range: $45,000-$94,000

Build your digital marketing super team now

Great, your dedicated digital marketing team is coming together. 

It’s time to invest in tools to keep everyone on the same page. 

Vista Social is a powerful social media marketing automation platform with collaboration features. You can generate internal reports, communicate via notes, assign tasks, and manage social media projects with clients—all in one place.

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